Morris County Adultery Divorce Lawyer
Discovering that your spouse was unfaithful during your marriage could shake you to the core. While citing adultery in a divorce petition is an option, doing so may actually have undesirable consequences including increased legal costs.
If you are seeking a divorce from your adulterous spouse, getting in touch with a Morris County adultery divorce lawyer could help you prepare to close this chapter of your life and end this broken marriage. While adultery may not have a significant effect on your divorce settlement, any particularly egregious extramarital conduct has the potential to affect alimony, division of assets, and even child custody. A local divorce lawyer should be able to help you understand whether claiming adultery is a worthwhile option in your circumstances.
Alleging Adultery in Divorce
In New Jersey, anyone filing for divorce must give grounds for ending the marriage. While most divorcing couples file no-fault divorces base on irreconcilable differences, others claim adultery if an extramarital affair is either suspected or admitted to. An experienced Morris County adultery divorce attorney understands how adultery could affect divorce outcomes in several ways and could help you choose the best strategy heading into court.
Division of Assets & Liabilities
Family law courts in New Jersey consider both assets and debts that a married couple acquires either jointly or individually during a union to be marital property that may be divided in divorce proceedings. In rare cases, a spouse’s infidelity could impact how a court divides assets and liabilities such as if the unfaithful spouse secretly squandered marital assets by lavishing money and gifts on a non-marital partner.
Alimony
Adultery may also influence alimony, but only in situations where it has negatively impacted the couple’s finances. The spouse who has committed adultery may be ordered to pay alimony or receive less of it depending on the specific circumstances.
Child Custody
Marital misconduct generally does not impact child custody considerations. The only scenario in which adultery may come into play is if the unfaithful spouse’s new romantic partner has a substance abuse problem, is a registered sex offender, or an otherwise dangerous individual.
Child Support
Child support is the right of the child and will not be directly impacted by their parent’s marital infidelities. However, child support could be affected indirectly by adultery such as if the cheating spouse is awarded less parenting time but the courts will always make orders that are in the best interest of the child. To fight for just child support, divorcing parents should work with a dedicated infidelity divorce attorney in Morris County.
Is Alleging Adultery Worth it?
While adultery is a despicable behavior that often precipitates divorce, alleging adultery may simply cause more trouble than it is worth. Among other things, claiming adultery requires divorcing couples to air their “dirty laundry” in a public forum and it may escalate the adversarial nature of divorce proceedings.
In New Jersey, there are many ways for a divorcing couple to dissolve their marriage that offer greater privacy and enhanced opportunities for productive negotiation. These include claiming irreconcilable differences as the reason for divorcing and pursuing one or more forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) for help arriving at a divorce settlement. For couples in Morris County, an adultery divorce lawyer could advise individuals on the best divorce strategy for their family.
Contact a Morris County Adultery Divorce Lawyer Today
Although adultery constitutes grounds for divorce in New Jersey, it may not necessarily mean that alleging adultery is the most prudent option. For information on what course of action to take, contact a Morris County adultery divorce lawyer today.
